Worth a walk to the mailbox :)

Sheila's paperbag offerings

So I took my daily walk to the mailbox to be rewarded!  Thanks ever so much Sheila, but methinks you went well beyond the guidelines for the paperbag swap (I may have too )…

All the goodies...

Exquisite work Sheila!  I really like the drawstring handles…little spools of thread, the wooden kind.  Do you have a tutorial for these?   And she made me a wallhanging that will go nicely somewhere in my newly renovated livingroom! The drawstring bag will be used to tote my supplies to my quilt workshops and I can’t wait!  I have already devoured the magazines and found one project that i want to start SOON!   Thank-you ever so much Sheila and I am going to have to send out the cavalry to find your package!  Fingers crossed there!

Here are some closeups  and thank-you once again:

Wallhanging

Drawstring bag...

On the sewing front for me, I played in my fabric today to choose fabric for the summertime quilt I need to get out to the recipient.  It was fun to put my mind on that and forget about my head for awhile.  I will post pictures of it once I start stitching.  I am going to prepare the applique tonight and show pictures tomorrow.

Speaking about tomorrow, I am going to follow Sheila’s lead and try to post everyday for the month of September! …that is if I haven’t had another episode!  It will help me from dwelling on  my health and make me get into my sewing room.  It is my sister’s birthday coming up and I had a plan that I would like to implement (she said that I could have an extension, so I might take her up on that … thanks J).

Later

Scrappy Christmas blocks finished….

Scrappy Christmas blocks finished

I’m happy that I had almost finished these blocks before the hospital episode.  I will now mail them to Debbie, Donna, Jessica and Beth.

I walked to the mailbox…gotta keep active and since I can’t run, swim or bike right now, it was a walk to the mailbox with my ever-willing-to-go-Shewka.

I came back with this:

Donna's swap blocks

The colours and material is beautiful.  Thanks Donna.  I tried to find out if she has a website, no …

And my sister sent me a care package!

Care Package from J

Thanks J.  I have wanted to see Revolutionary Road so it will be watched very soon.  The treats I have put aside for the time being….this time I hope to remember where I put the nuts because the last package of nuts went missing …I either hid them to well or Michael got at them…The angel is so beautiful and I have put her beside my bed for the moment, probably into/onto hutch later.  The bubblebath will be used tonight and I’m not sharing with Luc .  Of course the books I will get to!

Before I go, the house is taking some shape:

Cat has dibs on new chair

He’s there when I am there and then keeps it warm.  I had a scare with him last night, he woke me up last night by choking.  I am hoping that it is only furballs, so I gave him some of that molasses stuff.

Here is the new sofa:

New sofa

Slowly but surely coming together.  The cabinet on the left is the top of the hutch, we still have a bit of flooring to do on the right.  We still need a tv stand and some tables.  I love the flooring.

Catch you later….I’m feeling better,  a bit restless though.

Surprises in the mail!

Summer quilt swap received

I have a few exchanges and swaps to do and my Summer Quilt Swap partner surprised me!  (I still have to finish mine to sent to my partner…still time).  Petra , all the way from The Netherlands!   Thank you very much!  It is so beautiful!  Blue, blue, blue!  She obviously checked out my site.  She also sent me two blue fat quarters, some Dutch cookies (are they strawberry flavoured?).  And the card  is just perfect!  Petra designed the quilt itself and crocheted the binding…so original and cool.  I think that it will go nicely on my sewing table and force me to clean my sewing table more often so that I can display it .

Petra's signature

The small flowers are just right Petra and you do beautiful applique!  Thanks ever so much!

And I received this from my Paperbag Swap partner Sheila.  In this swap, we are swapping with each other.  I’m itching to show what I made her but she hasn’t gotten the package yet….all the way to Australia, but this is one item that Sheila has sent me:

Package 1 from Sheila

In this swap, we each sent the other a paper bag full of requisite items and then our partner had to make something using the supplies.  The material for the book is what I sent Sheila and she made me a bookcover.  I am using it and documenting my latest health issue.  And don’t you just love the fat quarter?  Australia I think….I have to verify to make sure but I think it is!  Thanks Sheila.

And then I received this from Maria!  This is for the big Stitcher’s Angel Swap hosted by Helen.

Book cover by Maria

It’s a book cover too and finely embroidered!  Anyone who knows me knows that I like journalling and reading so this will be used!  Thanks Maria. I think that Maria comes from Slovakia.  The crafty blogging community is amazing.  It is neat to see the materials from other countries!  Thanks Maria.

I ventured into my sewing room because I do have one deadline that is coming up, for the Scrappy Christmas block swap.  I come in and sew a ring, then dilly dally.

gotta get back to work!

I’ve got five done and one to go!

Later

Trying to relax…

I thought that I would post a picture of the beautiful flower arrangement that my sister sent me:

Flowers from Jude

Thank-you so much Jude.  They are now the centrepiece of the diningroom table.  When the hutch is put together I will put the teapot in it.

Back and scrappy block update…

Well I am back from Montreal.  I had an excellent visit with my son but sheesh, it is always so hard to leave him there.  He says though, that is where he wants to be.  I am sure that I will be back down in September.  He has a big enough apartment so that I can stay, plus it will give him the incentive to do his cleaning ….There is a heatwave here er there, both places!  We had a terrible summer weatherwise and just when I go back to work the heat comes out in full force .

Here are the Scrappy Hedgerow Christmas blocks that I have finished:

Well, summer is officially over for me.  I am back to work this morning.  I am looking forward to getting back to a routine!  My workload will be less this year so here is hoping to a fine balance with my stitching, be it quilting, cross stitch, embroidery, crochet etc.

Oh.  My summer feat was getting my reading concentration back.  The book that I am reading now is Elizabeth Hay’s Late Nights on Air.  It is a very good read and soooooooooooooooooo Canadian.  I just read a Kellerman (Survival of the Fittest) before…one “fastfood” book, one of some literary quality .

I am off to organize my stuff for school…the load I brought home but didn’t touch .

In Montreal

Just to let any followers know that I am in the big town of Montreal! I’ll be back next week!

Scappy Christmas Blocks

Practice Christmas Block

So, I started my Scappy Hedgerow Christmas Blocks.  I have to make 7 of these and will probably make a few more.  This one didn’t quite measure the 12.5 and I figured out where I made the mistake, so the future ones will be measure at each ring!  I cut out at least 20 kinds of Christmas fabric….sheesh….I didn’t realize how much Christmas fabric I had!

1.5" & 1.75" strips

My cutting table works so well, at just the right height!  I love it!

Working at table

New sewing room look!

One of the great things about renovating is finding new uses for old things!  I’ve been throwing out the living room items because black, black, black and I don’t mix.  I want wood!  I still love my old dining set and love the scratches and marks that my sons have embedded into it, but it is ratty looking so it was replaced…but it looks great in my sewing room!

New/old sewing table

Since the legs would not fit down over the sides of the four  cabinets (old bedroom set, two sets of drawers and 2 sets of cabinets, 2 against two) we took the legs off and voila, a nice high, optimum height table that I can walk around! Just perfect.  We are going to take the long white slab off on the far side so that I can put my cutting mats, scissors and other small items under the table.  As we continue with the renovations, wood flooring will be put down here! …happy dancing here.  I am going to change the handles on these cabinets and they will probably be repainted etc….And I arranged my sewing machine table for MAJOR sewing…right in the middle of the room:

Sewing table

I have space to walk around…to the right is my desk and stuff for school. I have good lighting and space.  I’m going to have my husband cut a piece of plywood and sand & varnish it so that I can clamp it between the sewing table and sewing machine table for bigger quilting projects….Happy girl ….the whole house is upside down but I can use my room!!!

Another view

My goal is to have as less clutter as possible on the sewing table….I recuperated that beautiful white bookshelf too….baskets, baskets, baskets.  The bookshelf on the right will be going because I want to get cabinets with doors for that space, although I really like to SEE my stuff…something with the creativity…how to be visually appealing without the cluttered look…..HELP ME!

Well, later….back to work!

Week-end family supper recipe

We had a family supper yesterday and we had a regional favourite so I took a picture:

Tourtiere

or two:

Tourtiere 2

It is a mixture of potatoes and meat.  Every family thinks their tourtiere is the best and here is the closest recipe that resembles my MIL’s.

Here is what it looks like on the plate….delicious!

Yum yum

Some people put ketchup on it but it is much better without.  My sister in law made the classic green salad and I made dessert, Fruit crisp.  Now I am going to go and eat some leftover tourtiere!

Another day, and what to show….

Well, first of all, I want to show you a site that I have mentioned before.  It is called Annie’s crazy world and she has an ongoing cross stitch sampler.  As of her last blog post she is up to   Band Sampler 168 – Detail 931 – An Embroidered Map. She stitches the events of her days, life.  I keep telling myself that I am going to start an ongoing sampler and I have already cut up some aida pieces to make it into a long length:

Start of ongoing sampler

There are a few different colour pieces on the scroll and ready to go.  The little tin is one that I use when I have a project going and the threads are remnants of what I have on my big frame (gotta get it finished too).  Anyhow, my sister turned me onto these tins…the perfect size for projects.  I keep collecting them; buying them with the carmel-filled chocolate …such a penance!  I think that they have this chocolate for every season, this one is for winter, then there are for Christmas, Valentines and Easter.  Hmmmm….I wonder if there are any for St. Patrick’s day or Halloween .  Anyway, I should be putting the first stitch in soon.

And I went shopping:

Quilt patterns 1

I needed some therapy (I know, old joke).  I took a workshop in strip quilts and I wanted some more patterns.  There are a few little projects too!  The Quadrille pattern is something I saw and I want to make one of those quilts with my moda fabric.  And check out my Bunnyhill pattern!  I like that she combines embroidery and quilting.

And:

Christmas and grab bag goodies

The Christmas pattern is for christmas card pockets…would be great for gifts!  And the other patterns were in the goodie bag that I ordered…sometimes I like to be surprised and I was pleasantly surprised.  The Fat Quarter Shop has goodie bags that go with one of the strip therapy books so I chose the book and got the rest of the patterns.   Enough shopping for awhile!

Well, it is off to do a little blog hopping!